Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

Here’s rooting for James Gandolfini to earn a posthumous Oscar nomination for his typecasting-defying turn as the tender guy who falls for Julia Louis-Dreyfus in “Enough Said.”

The “Sopranos” star, who passed away unexpectedly this year at age 51, will be remembered with a cable special, “James Gandolfini: Tribute to a Friend,” at 8:30 tonight on HBO. It includes memories from those who knew and loved him as well as clips of the powerful actor at work.

Whether as a raging mobster or a burly everyman with a marshmallow heart, Gandolfini was always our treasured TV and movie pal.